ESPN is reporting that Nextel, NASCAR’s flagship sponsor is being rebranded to it’s parent company Sprint in 2008. Here is a link to their story on ESPN.com.

What I wonder is how this affects the contract that Nextel and NASCAR have. I thought the entire basis of the $700 million price tag was to prohibit any other telecommunications company to enter into the sport, even if it is due to a buyout and rebranding effort (sound familiar AT&T?). This is coming on the heels of NASCAR suing AT&T $100 million for breach of contract. That’s another story that you can find here on RubbingsRacing.com. Not only do I think this move is unethical while they are trying to remove everyone else for the same issue, but I think it is a stupid business move. Nextel dropped millions into marketing and branding to erase the name “Winston” from people and fan’s minds. Now having been on board for only 4 years, another name change is going to irritate fans again. We are all just now getting used to calling it the Nextel Cup vs. Winston Cup. Not only that, but you have the millions invested to create the Nextel Fan View. Yes, you can just screenprint Sprint on the front, but still, they have been shoving this in front of everyone’s face for over a year now. Lots and lots of marketing dollars that are going to be lost.

Let’s look at one additional thing that makes this a bad decision. Look at what they would call it, “NASCAR Sprint Cup Series”. Wow, they must have really done some marketing homework here. They must not be race fans, because don’t they realize there is already a Sprint Car Series? Not only that, but it is a series that doesn’t even race production cars. Granted, neither will NASCAR in 2008. And sprint cars have that big wing on the back … Wait a minute……

Nextel, stand up for what you have invested millions into and fight to keep your name as the flagship sponsor. Don’t let your business make a stupid mistake.